Former Prime Minister Sir John Key says he understands why many Americans support incumbent President Donald Trump, as the world awaits the final result of the knife-edge US election.
In an op-ed for NZHerald.co.nz, Sir John says he watched one of Trump's rallies in full last weekend - something he hadn't done before.
"For the first time I could see why 5000 people had bothered turning up on a freezing afternoon to watch him.
"I enjoyed it partly because he is passionate. Trump is a man with energy to burn," Sir John wrote for NZHerald.co.nz.
Trump was first elected in 2016 when Sir John was still New Zealand's Prime Minister. They first talked via phone on November 16 of that year, where Trump told Key the US had a "top-notch" relationship with New Zealand.
But Sir John earlier this year revealed there was a lot he didn't like about Trump, who controversially withdrew the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
"I've always been pro-migration, pro-open markets, pro-people coming and making a better life, and I think that's been the American Dream," Sir John told Newstalk ZB in January.
It's been a tumultuous year for the global superpower, which has been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic and often violently divided by racial division.
With millions of ballots still to count, the US election race remains too close to call. CNN's latest count shows Biden with a lead in the Electoral College with 253 votes to 213.
